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 Business News | April 2005 
Bills Would Require Cross-Border Coordination
 Elizabeth Pierson - The Brownsville Herald
| | TxDOT, DPS might meet more often with Mexican officials. |
Austin, TX In an effort to help traffic and business flow more smoothly between Texas and Mexico, border lawmakers are pushing bills that would require some Texas officials to meet regularly with their Mexican counterparts.
Senate bills 293 and 569 would require representatives of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Transportation, respectively, to meet at least quarterly with their counterparts in bordering Mexican states.
For example, a representative of TxDOT in Austin or the Rio Grande Valley would have to meet four times a year with someone in a similar position in Tamaulipas.
This legislation will enhance coordination and international trade between the Texas and Mexico border, providing economic benefits including jobs and increased development in trucking and other industries, said state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City.
Guillen presented the bill to the House Committee on Border and International Affairs on Wednesday.
The Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition, which represents many Rio Grande Valley business and government interests, signed up in favor of the bill.
With increased cross-border communication, the state will save itself the trouble of developing policy in Austin that is later found to be difficult or impossible to implement, said Rene Gonzalez, director of the Laredo Development Foundation.
It serves no purpose, representatives, if state agencies create policy that is counter to what our friends in Mexico are planning for their border communities, Gonzalez told the House committee.
The bills would require representatives of TxDOT and DPS, working with the Border Commerce Coordinator in the Secretary of State office, to develop short- and long-term plans on how to improve relations with Mexico and mitigate delays at border inspection points.
The bills passed the Senate in March. They must pass the House committee, be approved by the full House and be signed by the governor before they become law.
Four of the five border Senators are sponsors of the bill: state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso; state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen; state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville; and Zaffirini. |
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